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A controversial penalty converted by Adelaide captain Travis Dodd secured United full points in their A-League opener against Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday night.
Referee Craig Zetter awarded the spotkick after a 29th minute free kick from Scott Jamieson eluded a number of players in front of the Glory goalmouth.
Zetter then judged Socceroos defender Chris Coyne, making his Glory debut, to have impeded defender Robert Cornthwaite.
Dodd was deadly with his penalty strike in the 31st minute to put Adelaide’s stamp on a scrappy first half and stretched their winning record against Perth to four matches in a row.
Zetter cautioned Perth captain Jacob Burns and goalkeeper Tando Velaphi for dissent as they hotly disputed the penalty decision in front of a healthy 13,847 fans.
Adelaide also had some claim for another penalty in just the second minute when Brazilian fullback Alemao burst into the penalty box and appeared to be bundled over by Burns but Zetter judged the contact negligible.
Beefed-up Perth failed to gel going forward despite the attacking grunt of Socceroos Mile Sterjovski and Burns, former Dutch international Victor Sikora and their leading scorer from last season, Eugene Dadi.
Sikora tested Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic with a curling free kick from 20 metres in the 11th minute but Perth hardly troubled him after that.
Sterjovski couldn’t shake off the close checking of former Sydney FC defender Iain Fyfe and Jamieson in his much-awaited debut as Perth’s marquee player.
Adelaide relied heavily on proven performers such as Jamieson, Dodd and holding midfielder Paul Reid.
However Reid and fellow midfielder Lucas Pantelis survived less than an hour after being injured while Perth defensive midfielder Jamie Coyne came off injured in the first half too.
Cornthwaite almost handed Perth a lucky draw in the 84th minute when he kicked the ball past Galekovic and just wide of the goal for a corner.
Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar praised his players’ courage to grind out a first-up win at home.
“It was a really courageous effort from our team after losing Lucas (Pantelis) early and then Paul Reid early in the second half,” he said.
Vidmar tipped fans could expect plenty of similar, tight scraps this season in the A-League with all clubs recruiting strongly.
“Competitive pressure from both sides tonight was tremendous, especially in the first half,” he said.
“But I think we deserved to win the game.”
A disappointed Glory coach David Mitchell said his team would only improve after being together for just three weeks.
“The way Adelaide play makes it hard for any team to play football,” he said.
Captain Burns said Perth were a little below par on the night.
“We know it but we’ve got 26 rounds to get it right,” he said.
Midfielder Jamie Coyne will be missing for about six weeks after tearing a medial ligament.
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